Golden Tempo skips Jim Dandy, targets Travers after illness delay

Golden Tempo will skip the Aug. 1 Jim Dandy Stakes and train instead toward the Aug. 29 Travers Stakes after an illness interrupted his preparation, forcing a sharp reset in the colt’s summer campaign. Trainer Cherie DeVaux said June 27 that Golden Tempo had recovered, but the lost training time made the Saratoga middle step too tight to try to fit in before the Midsummer Derby.

The change matters because the Jim Dandy had been the planned bridge from the 2026 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes to the Travers, Saratoga’s 1 1/4-mile Grade 1 centerpiece with a $1.25 million purse. Without that start, Golden Tempo will go straight to the Travers after a longer gap, leaving the team to manage fitness more conservatively as the colt moves from a $500,000 Grade 2 at 1 1/8 miles to the season’s late-summer headline race.

That path had already become one of the year’s biggest storylines after Golden Tempo’s improbable Derby breakthrough at 23-1 and his Belmont Stakes victory at Saratoga with Jose Ortiz aboard. The colt became the 13th horse to win both the Derby and Belmont, while DeVaux made history as the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner and only the second woman to train a Belmont Stakes winner. Those milestones turned every start into a referendum on how far the horse could carry classic form into the rest of the summer.

The Travers route also carries weight in Saratoga tradition. The race dates to 1864 and has long been called the Midsummer Derby, while the Jim Dandy has often served as the preferred local springboard into it. Sovereignty’s 2025 sweep of the Jim Dandy and Travers underscored how direct that route can be, which is why Golden Tempo’s missed prep is more than a scheduling note. It removes the most logical tune-up from the map and asks the team to stretch the colt’s stamina and readiness over a longer climb.

DeVaux’s decision kept the emphasis on the horse’s welfare after the illness shortened his preparation. For a colt already carrying classic credentials and expectations, the new plan is simpler but more demanding: arrive at Saratoga on Aug. 29 ready to answer the question the Jim Dandy would have helped pose first.